A Ruff Expirence
by PariahDark
Summary: A terrible situation forces Hiccup and Ruff into an intimate situation. They think they can put it behind them until Stoick announces their engagement. Can they find a way to cancel it, Or will they come to actually develop feelings for one another.
1. Chapter 1

Winter on Berk was a difficult thing for Vikings. They had to get everything they needed to fill their storehouse before the ocean became filled with icebergs and became to dangerous . So, when the trade ships didn't show up on time Stoick the vast became angry and quickly sought out his son finding him in the forge working on his newest invention. The minute Hiccup saw his dad's massive shadow looming in the entrance he prepared himself for screaming as was their usual interaction.

"Hey dad what's up?"

"The trade ships haven't come in yet, and as you know if they're not in before terrible winter comes Berk will be in trouble. Normally I'd just blame it on rogue dragons or bad weather but with Dagur's armada constantly testing our waters I wouldn't put it past them to try something."

"Alright I'll take the riders out and see if we can find them and guide them in."

"About that son I have a bit of bad news, seems like their parents got worried and sent their children to hunt boars or fish on some nearby islands despite how I told them to have them on standby."

Hiccup sighed knowing this just got harder. "So, you're sending me out alone to search for multiple ships?"

"Well not quite alone…"

He was about to ask what he meant when Ruffnut came hurdling into the forge. "You see son it seems that instead of going out to get food Ruff and Tuff decided to anger a family of boars. Tuff got a broken arm and is recovering but Ruff is still able and ready to fly."

"It's not my fault he didn't run when I told him to."

"That's enough, we need to find the traders and you two are all we have right now."

_What?! Please anyone but Ruff! Even Snoutlout would be better._ It wasn't that he hated Ruffnut, but she and her brother were known for their destruction and stupid actions. On numerous occasions he'd had to help them out of traps that he'd told them to disable.

He opened his mouth to speak but his father cut him off. "Grab your dragons and leave in five minutes. I want the traders found and brought in by nightfall."

He walked away leaving the two alone.

"So, when we are heading out?"

"I guess now, think you can fly Barf and Belch solo?"

She looked away chuckling "Well funny thing about that you see during the whole boar thing Barf and Belch kind of got injured as well. Not to bad just a damaged wing and should be fine by tomorrow."

"So, you're saying you can't fly?"

"Nope."

He sighed in annoyance and grabbed what supplies he'd need. "Alright looks like we'll have to share Toothless." Her eyes lit up hearing this and she ran to the sleeping dragon outside trying to get him up and flying.

"Come on Toothless we got some heavy duty flying to do!"

Toothless annoyed at being woken up rolled over and pinned her on her back. Hiccup laughed a bit and patted his head. "Sorry bud but we got a job to do and as much as I'd like to fly solo, we'll need her extra eyes."

He rolled back over letting her up. As Hiccup slid into the saddle Ruff slid on behind her.

"You might want to hold on."

She snorted at his suggestion "Please I think I can handle a little speed."

Nearly a minute later she was falling from the sky after stating Toothless wasn't as fast as she thought.

Of course, Hiccup ordered him to save her. He growled in annoyance before diving down and catching her on his saddle. She stared in shock for a moment before wrapping her arms around Hiccup. As they flew Hiccup fond that despite how awkward it was, he enjoyed her holding him.

_Well despite her crazy she is still a girl. Come to think of it this is the first time I've flown with a girl besides Astrid._

About an hour or two into the flightHiccup saw the sun starting to set and got a bit worried. "At this rate we won't find them by night fall, and we'll have to turn back."

"Your dads not going to like that."

"Well it's not like they're just going to pop out of nowhere." He started to turn Toothless around when Ruff squeezed his ribs. "Wait I see something."

He turned his head and saw a large iceberg with a few trade ships around it.

"Alright let's go see why they're so late."

He dove down and dismounted on the iceberg but was surprised when he saw a cave and footprints leading inside. They followed the footprints down the cave where they eventually found four of the traders being held captive by a very large man with a spiked club. On his back was the berserker crest. "Now for the last time you're going to stay away from Berk. My boss has plans and we can't have them getting supplies."

The traders turned their head when they saw Hiccup and cheered. The berserker raised his club and charged them but toothless quickly blasted him into the ice. Seeing their captive fall the traders stood up and began running for the entrance.

"Thanks lad, we were on our way to Berk when their ship attacked us. We're not fighters so we were no match for them. Sadly, though most of them sailed off with a good amount of our supplies while leaving him here to watch us." 

"How long ago was that?" he asked hoping he could still catch them.

"Hours ago, but don't fret we might not have much, but we still have enough to tide Berk over, if only just."

For the first time in hours Hiccup felt a feeling of relief wash over him. But that was short lived when he noticed Ruff exploring on of their ships. He rushed over and pulled her away from the barrel she was just about to hack into.

"Ruff what are you doing?!"

"I smelled jerky and I'm hungry!"

He looked down on the label and saw it was indeed yak jerky. He'd tried it once and found it to be the saltiest chewiest thing he'd ever tried. Not to mention the smell alone was enough to repel a boar. But for some reason there were Vikings that would trade a year of savings for this stuff. Usually Berk was lucky if they got a single barrel a year and even then, it was consumed within a month.

"Ruff that's not yours."

She raised her axe preparing to ignore him and open the barrel when a massive wave rapidly came into view.

"Run!" everyone did their best to avoid the wave. Some hide in their ships while others retreated into the cave. Sadly, as the wave hit the barrel rolled from the boat and into the freezing water below. Before he could stop her Ruff had dived from the boat and into the water. Hiccup and Toothless raced to the edge just in time to see a stream of bubbles rush up.

"Ruff!" after a moment he jumped on the edge. "Bud plasma blast I'll need some light down there." He jumped in just as the plasma shot through the dark waters lighting it up. He only had to search for a few moments before finding a still Ruff floating next to the barrel. He grabbed her and did his best to pull her to the surface.

His limbs were freezing, and he could barely breath, but he still managed to pull them out of the waters and onto the berg. But as he looked around for help saw that all but one of the boats had all gone.

"Damn, bad time to be without help."

Toothless dragged them both on the deck of the ship and blasted the berg to get the boat going. "Bud we'll need a fire."

Toothless had just destroyed one of the wooden creates and lit them ablaze when he heard screaming. Using what strength, he had he lifted himself up just as the berserker pulled out a blowgun and hit toothless in the leg screaming. "Never leave a berserker alive!"

Toothless collapsed onto the ground and Hiccup quickly pulled out the dart relaxing only when he smelled the familiar scent of numbing plants.

"Looks like you'll just be out for a while." Then he remembered Ruff and did his best to drag his freezing body over to her. He didn't see her chest moving and knew he had to perform CPR.

"Come on Hiccup remember what Gothi taught you."

He opened her mouth and began blowing into it before pressing down on her chest.

After a few moments her eyes opened, and she saw Hiccup was kissing her. She pushed him off and coughed up water.

"What the hell Hiccup!?"

"The hell is that I just saved you from drowning after you dove into freezing water over some jerky."

She wanted to scream but then she saw that he was shaking from the cold. She then felt her own body freezing up. Her anger quickly subsided in the freezing environment. "Come on let's warm up with the fire." She quietly helped him to the fire, and they curled around it. But after a few minutes Hiccup knew they had another problem. The fire was dying down due to the cold weather and with Toothless asleep they had no way to start it up again. They barely had the energy to move so they couldn't put more things in the fire. His father had always told him what to do in case of freezing emergencies but with dragons he'd never thought it would be an option.

"Ruff you're not going to like what I'm about to say."

"I never like what you have to say."

"Look our clothes are soaked and freezing. We'll have to take them off and curl up or we'll get hypothermia."

"You expect me to strip! Never!"

"Look we either do it while we have the energy or freeze." Her gaze was blazing as she starred at him.

"Look I'll keep my eyes closed if you want."

She tired to reach out to smack him, but her arm was slightly frozen to her shirt. She knew he was right, but it still pissed him off. _Damn it! Why is he always right!?_

"Fine but if you look, you'll lose another body part."

Hiccup kept his word and kept his eyes closed as the two of them removed their clothes and curled up with one another next to the dwindling fire.

For nearly twenty minutes she starred at the fire from behind him as she thought about her situation.

_Well this is just great. Not only do I not have my jerky but now I'm trapped on a freezing boat with Hiccup! The one legged know it all who can't even use a sword._

But as it went on, she realized something very important. Something she was loathed to admit.

_But he did risk his life to save mine. I should pay him back. _After a moment a thought came to her, a stupid insane idea but it was the best idea she could come up with to pay him back.

"Hiccup."

"Yeah Ruff."

"Look cuddling is barely keeping us warm right?"

"Yeah but what else can we do?"

"I know of a way, and I think you do to."

His head perked up as realization dawned on him. "Ruff you don't mean…"

"Yep, look you technically saved my life twice and Thorstones don't like owing people. We'll both die if we don't warm up fast, so this kills two birds with one stone."

Hiccup could barely belief what he was hearing. He knew she was right, but this seemed wrong.

_Sure, dads always said that Vikings will do anything to survive but this really doesn't feel right._ He briefly opened his eyes and saw that the fire was dying faster than he realized.

"Are you sure?"

"Look you're not my first choice but I'm not really complaining."

He turned over and opened his eyes. For the first time in years he felt his mind slow down as he starred at her.

"Wow…" was all he could say as he could a good look at her naked form. "You're beautiful."

Ruff blushed at what was possibly the first compliment a boy had said about her and got on top of him before leaning down.

"Listen up Hiccup. This doesn't leave this boat understand?"

"Agreed." She grabbed his head and quickly kissed him.

For what seemed like hours the two of them embraced each other just to stay warm and awake. By the time their bodies were completely warmed up they laid next to each other both unsure of what to say or do next and simply relaxed in the moment.

Luckily Toothless soon woke up and after staring at the two for a moment lit the fire back up so they could rapidly dry their clothes. Once they were, they quickly got dressed and hopped back on Toothless who flew back to Berk at record speed. They were greeted by the Stoick who of course screamed at them for being late but rushed them inside as a storm was brewing. At the crossroads leading to their different homes Ruff and Hiccup shared an awkward goodbye hug before quickly rushing inside. Hiccup hobbled up the stairs and into his bed his mind unable to forget the events of the last few hours.


	2. Chapter 2

After nearly a week of being kept inside due to the storms Berk was emerging and Hiccup had work to do. As their official leader he had to check in on the dragon riders as well as give them their tasks. After a storm like this their help would desperately be needed.

Hiccup made his way down the stairs and out into the freezing air and the sound of dragons waking up. "Alright Bud let's go see how everyone's doing."

As Fishlegs was the closet he checked on him first finding him in his stable giving Meatlug a belly rub.

"I see you two are ready to go."

"Yeah Meatlug kept us nice and toasty with a few lava blasts. So, what's up for the riders today?"

"I need you to go and gather a few gronkles and help Snotlout melt the snow from the village."

He nodded and Hiccup walked the short distance to Astrid's house. But after knocking for a few minutes she didn't answer. Her stable was empty, so he assumed that she'd gone for a morning flight.

"Alright guess I'll go and make sure Snotlouts ready to work."

He got his answer a few moments later when he heard the familiar sound of Snotlout screaming followed by the blaze as Hookfang came around the corner with Snotlout in his teeth.

"Hookfang put me down!"

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing! I just told him that he'd get his breakfast after I got mine. Apparently, he didn't like this answer."

"Look as soon as you get him somewhat under control go help Fishlegs in the square."

He left before he could hear his compliments or see Hookfang drop him onto a barrel.

The final stop was the Thorston home which for good reason was located at the far end of the village. As he walked there, he found he was a bit nervous. Being stuck inside for a few days had given him plenty of time with his thoughts, most of which centered on what he'd done with Ruffnut.

He'd never seen her as anything but a crazed Viking. And he was pretty sure that she hated him, or at the very least found him annoying. He reached the door and shook his head trying to clear his thoughts.

_I'm sure Ruff's forgotten, and we can just put it behind us._

After a few knocks her brother Tuff answered. "What do you want?" his arm was still in a sling, but he seemed to be fine.

"Storms over so the riders have work to do. Is Barf and Belch fine enough to move?"

"Are you kidding he's great! Just this morning we were playing his favorite game of yak catch."

"Right, well get Ruff and meet the others in the square."

"Can't she's not here."

"Well, where is she?"

"Think she went to get some fresh water from the well." He brought his hand to his chin for a moment. "No wait I think she's taking a walk. Or something I really don't know I wasn't paying attention."

"Well just bring you dragon hopefully she'll turn up later."

An hour later the square was filled with gronkles dropping magma balls on the snow piles wither the others took care of the ice. Surprisingly Astrid and Ruff never showed up which was off. Normally Astrid was the most punctual and ready of all of them but as much as he wanted to worry, they had more tasks to take care of such as removing any debris and thawing the bay and delivering supplies to people that needed them.

After a couple of hours and nearly three fights that had started between Snotlout and Tuff he decided it would be best to take a break in the great hall. The doors had just opened when Astrid came out followed by her faithful dragon Stormfly.

"Astrid have you been in the great hall all day?"

"Yeah sorry but after we got back from our flight, I wanted to warm up next to the fire." She looked past him at the latest fight that had started over whatever stupid thing had happened in the five minutes he'd been away.

"I take it we've only gotten through a few of the tasks?"

"Square is cleared, and food is delivered. Just need to kickstart the forge as well as go on patrol."

"Well tell you what I'll take over while you enjoy a meal."

"Thanks, I really need this."

Inside the great hall there were a few groups of older Vikings talking about their past glories or simply challenging each other to a drinking contest or starting fights.

He took a seat near the grand table and grabbed whatever food was there while pouring over the book of dragons. As he read and ate more and more people came in, some stopped to say hello or simply thank them for the supplies but of course his day got worse when the old goat known as Mildew came in and gave his usual annoying speech about how dragons had ruined the island. Not wanting to hear this or be bothered he quickly finished eating and made his way outside running into Ruff on the way down the stairs.

"Hey, ruff we were wondering were you were today. We still have work to do…" she in her usual way punched him in the arm before brushing past him. "Food first work later."

Rubbing his arm, he thought to himself. _Well at least she's acting normal… or at least normal for Ruff._

Once at the bottom he saw the fires coming from the forge and decided to spend the rest of time working on his shield. It had been jamming and refusing to go back into shield form. He'd just grabbed the hammer when he heard the uneven sound of the Gobber as he hobbled into the forge with a wagon full of weapons.

"I see I'm not the only one who thought of coming here."

"Yeah with Astrid finishing the tasks I thought I could finally get my shield fixed."

He sat down at the sharpening wheel and began going over the axes letting the sparks fly everywhere.

"So, word around the village is that you and Ruffnut had a private mission just before the storm. Now I'm not one for rumors but from what I heard you two didn't make it back for hours. And when you returned you were both acting awkward."

His hammer slipped and scraped the side of his shield. "There's already a rumor about us?"

"You know how we get after a storm. We'll flock to even the most absurd news."

"Well I can assure you that the rumor is just that. There's nothing between me and Ruff."

"I know that lad, but just be prepared for random questions from the others."

As he chuckled at the situation Hiccup put his shield up deciding to check in on the patrol. He mounted Toothless and flew up into the skies of Berk.

"Alright by now they should just be past Thor rock."

Toothless dove from the sky letting his wings cut through the clouds as he got out his restlessness from being trapped for days. With his speed he quickly maneuvered between the massive stone pillars that led to Thor rock and past the wild dragons eventually finding his fellow riders on the far side of the beach.

He dismounted and walked over to Fishlegs and Astrid as they went over the map. "So, how'd the patrol go?"

"Well we've been seeing some dragons here that shouldn't, but you know how dragons can be. Other then that we haven't seen and berserker or outcast ships."

"Well that should put my father in a good mood."

A sudden roar made him turn his head just as Hookfang snapped at Ruff and Tuff which of course made Barf and Belch snap at him. Astrid and Hiccup rushed over and tried to stand between them just as Snotlout came out from behind a rock. "Woah guys what the heck!?" Hiccup asked looking between the riders.

Snoutlout stepped forward clutching his jaw. "The heck is this maniac punched me in the face." He said jabbing his thumb in Tuff's chest.

"Hey, you're the one who said the cold made you stronger. Guess you didn't mean your face."

He got angry and snapped his fingers causing Hookfang to ignite.

Tuff smiled his deranged smile and snapped. Barf roared getting his other head to start spewing gas which quickly filled the area.

"Guys wait a minute…" but Hiccup was to late as the gas spread around the area just as Hookfang rushed forward his flaming body hitting the volatile gas. The explosion knocked all of them back and flooding the area with black smoke.

When Hiccup opened his eyes, he found he was atop Ruffnut. Her eyes shot opened but instead of screaming or reacting with anger as he expected she went stiff and wide eyed with shock. They starred at each other their minds remembering the last time they were like this. Their cheeks went red with embarrassment.

"Uhhh sorry didn't meant to fall on you." He said quickly scrambling off her and trying to calm down.

As soon as he was, she shook her head and jumped up. "Just don't let it happen again." The quickly looked around and sighed when they saw the area was still to filled with black smock and thus no one saw them.

After making sure everyone was okay and finishing what was left of their patrol and headed back to Berk.

He headed home wanting to relax and jot down his latest ideas but was stopped in his living room by his father.

"Ah son your back, good come and sit down we have some important business to discuss."


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright dad what do you need to talk about?"

"Hiccup do you remember what I told you about traditions and customs?"

"Well over the years you've told me many of our traditions. Such as the one were if two Vikings have a disagreement they need to either settle it with fists or steel."

"One of my personal favorites but I'm talking about the traditions regarding the chief and more importantly the ones regarding their children."

Hiccup thought for a moment his mind recalling when his father had sat him down and went over the more important traditions. But as he was son young his memories were vague.

"Sorry dad can't seem to remember."

His dad sighed and rubbed his temples. "Well son as one of Berks oldest traditions the chief's children are expected to marry either the children of other chiefs or marry into one of the oldest families on Berk."

"Okay but what does…"

"Normally that wouldn't be a problem but seeing as our decades long peace with the berserks have been ruined by his deranged son we have to look within."

"Wait are you saying what I think your saying?"

"Aye son it's time we find you a wife. Normally this is something I would have done years ago but seeing as we've been under constant danger it hasn't been one of my top priorities."

"Then why do it now? I mean yeah we're no longer under the threat of dragons but we still have our enemies."

"Enemies that you and your team have successfully dealt with time and time again."

Hiccup couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sure he knew that arranged marriages were common but he never expected it to happen to him.

"So this morning I got to talking with some of the local families about setting up some potential matches."

"And?" he asked trying to hide his unease.

"Funny thing about that. As I was meeting with the families in the great hall this afternoon Jarnut Thorston came up to me with some very interesting news."

Hiccup felt his heart slow down as his father started to grin.

"Now son can you please explain why Ruffnut's father overheard his wife and daughter talking about a certain intimate experience she had with you during your simple mission to find some traders.?"

"… Well would you believe that is was entirely accidental?"

"Son if your going to try and lie to me your going to have to put more of an effort into it."

"Alright here's what happened." So, for the next few minutes he preceded to tell his father the events of a few days ago. How Ruff had dove into the water and nearly drowned, how they'd been freezing and had to warm each other up. He of course did his best to skip over the part where he and Ruff got truly intimate. The entire time his father sat there looking calm but slightly grinning. When he was finally done his father laughed a bit.

"The old we were just cold trick! Ha ha ha ha. Same trick I pulled with your mother when her parents caught us."

His face was bright red from embarrassment as he waited for his father to stop laughing.

"Well son I'm proud of you for truly becoming a man. Now all is left is to hammer out the wedding details with her father."

"Wait I don't even get a say in this?"

"Hiccup this is one of our most ancient traditions. Besides you two are the same age and spend most of your time together as riders so it's not like your strangers. That and you two have already shown compatibility. Now I suggest you find Ruffnut and discuss this with her. By now I'm sure her father has already approached her as well."

He wanted to talk about this further but his father had switched to his "This conversation is over look" so he sighed and headed back outside hoping that his search would be in vain and that he could just claim not to have found her and then go to bed.

Thor must have enjoyed watching him suffer for as he walked into the quickly darkening town square he saw some very familiar blonde hair and froze. From what he could see she was sitting there clutching her arms and legs and switching between groans and screams. Sadly while he stopped his faithful dragon kept going and gave a gentle snort which alerted Ruff that she wasn't alone. Her head whipped up letting Hiccup see her slightly red eyes. She jumped up and wiped her eyes before storming over to him.

"What do you want!"

"I take it your father also had a talk with you when you got home." Her eyes narrowed which he took it as a yes. "Look Ruff I can honestly say I'm just as displeased with this as you are. Don't get me wrong you are a very attractive person but I just don't see you like that."

She unbaled her fists and looked away. "Well not much we can do about it now. My father was practically giddy when he overheard, I'd been with someone."

She got angry again and started punching a nearby stone wall. Hiccup stopped her when he saw her fist was getting bloody.

"Ruff stop that!" he grabbed her hand and looked at it relieved when he didn't see anything to bad. He led her over to the well where he washed her hand and sat her down.

"Look why don't you tell me what happened? From why my father told me your father overheard you and your mother talking about… our little experience." He couldn't even say it without feeling his cheeks redden.

"Well my moms pretty smart so when she noticed I wasn't harassing Tuff or breaking things she got worried and asked me what was wrong. And so I stupidly told her what had happened between us."

"You told her everything?"

"Not everything! I told her we had sex to stay warm but I wasn't about to go into the exact details of how I lost my virginity." By this time her face had also gotten red and looked away from him grabbing her braids and screaming before continuing. "Anyway in comes dad hearing this and jumps to the conclusion that we've been seeing each other and goes to tell your father."

"And my dad who had already been looking for me a wife hears this and finds a solution to his problem."

He sighs and sit's down next to her rubbing his temples.

After a few minutes she not so gently punches him in the arm. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where's your plan to get us out of this mess?"

"What makes you thing I have a plan for this?"

"Because that's your thing, you always come up with some smarty pants plan that fixes things."

"Ruff if this were something about dragons then maybe I could. But this is something my and your father wants. And the last time my father really wanted something he and his friends were strapping Toothless onto a boat and using him as a homing beacon to find the hive."

"So we're screwed then?"

He could only shrug which angered her. "Well I think you just need motivation."

Before he could stop her she pushed him back and in one quick motion stole his metal leg.

"You'll get this back when I get a plan." He tried to stop her but she quickly ran off. He raised his stump in sighed loudly before motioning for Toothless.

Using Toothless as a balance he wobbled back to his home meeting his father at the top of the steps.

He raised his eyebrow in surprise when Hiccup hobbled to the door.

"So how did my future daughter in law take the news."

"Well she got angry and stole my leg."

"Seeing as you're not hurt and nothing's on fire I'd say that went pretty well. Don't worry son I'm sure the two of you will look back on these moments and have a good laugh."

He ignored him and hobbled up the stairs and to his desk grabbing the makeshift spare he'd been crafting.

"Looks like I'll need to finish you sooner rather then later."

But he was to tired and slipped into bed his final thoughts of the night being those of a more the likely future with Ruff as his wife.


	4. Chapter 4

The following morning was filled with awkwardness as Hiccup hobbled out of his house on his makeshift spare which was really nothing more than a peg leg.

He walked down the village streets and down to the academy so he could give out their tasks. As he walked various villages congratulated him on his engagement.

Of course, there were others that just whispered.

"_Did you hear that he finally found a girl?"_

"_Yeah and Ruffnut at that. Hopefully once their married he'll get her crazy under control."_

"_Or she'll wind up getting him killed." _He did his best to ignore their words as they'd always been talking about him behind his back.

It took him a bit longer to get down to the academy on his new leg but when he eventually did, he saw Fishlegs arguing with Snoutlout.

"For the last time Snoutlout just because Hookfang is tough doesn't mean he can take out an entire armada."

"Please Fishlegs you just don't know Hookfang strength."

"I know that the last time you tried to take out multiple ships you ended up crashing onto the deck and Hiccup had to rescue you." He smiled when he saw Hiccup entering the arena.

"Speaking of which morning Hiccup."

"Morning."

Snoutlout took one look at Hiccups leg and laughed. "What's up with the peg leg? Gobber convince you to downgrade or something?"

He was about to tell him when to roars filled the air. They looked up to see Barf and Belch along with their riders flying into he arena. As they got down, they saw that Ruff had Hiccups leg tied over her back.

Hiccup saw a massive grin forming on Snoutlouts face and grabbed his shirt pulling him down. "Not a single word or you'll be cleaning the dragon's stables for the next week."

For the first time he kept his mouth shut but he did look like he was going to burst out laughing at any minute.

Ruff on the other hand walked over to him. "So, you come up with a plan yet?"

"Ruff believe me I haven't forgotten about it but until I do, I'm going to need my leg so I can fly toothless."

"Well tough, I've had to deal with my father's constant questions about our relationship and why I came home with your leg."

"Look Ruff If I promise to put my full attention into this matter will you return my leg so we can go on patrols?"

Her brother overhearing this decided to speak up. "Yeah sis just gives him his leg already. He is not pulling off the peg leg."

She shot him an angry look before returning his leg. "Thank you."

After switching out his leg he took a couple steps but found his pace uneven.

"What the heck?" he asked looking down at his leg. To his surprise the leg was slightly bent. He looked at her quizzically which she could only shrugged.

"Yeah funny story. You see last night my dad kept going on about having a full Thorston wedding which may or may not have pissed me off. And so, I did what I always do when I'm angry and bludgeon our stuffed yak."

"And you used my leg to do it!?"

"Geez Hiccup calm down. You should be proud, I mean your leg held up much better then other bludgeons. She actually got half the stuffing out before it bent."

He examined his leg a bit further finding only slight damage. "Well I can still fly on it, but I'm still upset. But we'll put it behind us for now as we got work to do."

"So, what are we doing? Flight training, resource gathering, going over dragon research?" Hiccup never got tired of how excited Fishlegs got over their work.

"Well as much as I'd love to go over our research it seems like or fishing boats have been getting attacked again. Probably just a Scauldron or some other tidal class dragon that's wandered near Berk. So, first off we're to head to the docks to see the state of the ships then to head to where they were attacked. If we're lucky we can get this handled and be back in time to disable some of the old dragon traps."

"Wait what about Astrid?"

"Dad sent her on a scouting mission. She'll catch up later."

After grabbing some gear, the flew down to the docks where a small group of fishermen were standing near a couple of destroyed ships. While losing a fishing boat would normally be bad news this was Berk and the fisherman were so used to their ships being attacked or destroyed that if they did manage to bring it in it was immediately checked to see if they could still use it. As they approached, they heard the usual questions.

"Looks like we'll have to scrap it for parts."

"Can't we just patch it and use it as a reserve?"

"This was the reserve. It's been patched so many times it's miracle it still floats. Shame really this thing held up for two storms and a nightmare attack."

Hiccup and the riders hopped on what was left of the deck and looked around. There were faint burn marks on the wood which wasn't that surprising. On the sides were claw and tooth marks which Hiccup didn't recognize but it wasn't unheard of for new dragons to roam the skies and sea.

"Did you see anything during the attack?"

"Not really, we were just pulling up our haul when it was ripped down into the sea. Next thing we know somethings ramming into us, fires shooting out of the water and it's ripping wood from the boat. We managed to fend it off with some spears and a couple spare eels we had."

As Fishlegs was marking down the size and length of the claw marks Ruff and Tuff had ventured below deck only to come running back a couple minutes later carrying a large tooth.

"Check this out! We're so bringing this home."

After checking it out Hiccup turned to Fishlegs "So what do you think?"

"Well judging by the claw marks and tooth size I'd say it's one of the larger tidal dragons. But the fact that it used fire does narrow down my list considerably. We'll have to get to the site to be sure."

"Alright everyone gather some rope and supplies because we're not coming back till it's out of our fishing lanes."

And hour into their flight and they were coming up on the area were the attack happened.

"Alright everyone keep your eyes on the water. And guys I know I shouldn't have to tell you but please be careful."

As the descended to get a better view of the surface they noticed a dark shape moving slowly in the sea.

"Uh Hiccup I think I found something." Fishlegs said hovering just above the spot. The other riders had just gotten close when a wide jaw came out of the water. Seconds later the skies were lit up with fireballs that kept exploding.

The skies erupted into chaos as the riders tried to avoid the rapid fire of the blasts. Hiccup with the fastest dragon easily maneuvered out of the fires range and down to the water where he finally got a better look at the dragon.

It's hide was covered in red scales with two yellow horns sticking out from it's head. He also saw a pair of large wings that kept pushing it forward in the water. From what he saw it was maybe half as big as a nightmare.

"That's a shellfire most likely a juvenile."

"But I thought those things were deep sea dragons."

"Guess this one decided to explore. Just blast it and drive out to sea."

Hearing this the riders took turns avoiding blasts while diving to bombard it with different blasts. Luckily as a juvenile it's hide wasn't as tough and after ten minutes it roared and dove beneath the waves quickly speeding toward the sea.

"Think it will be back?"

"Not likely, like you said their deep-sea dragons. This one probably ran from another bigger dragon and ran into our fishing boat. We'll patrol here again for a while just to be sure."

Having accomplished their goal, they started back toward Berk when Astrid came diving out of the clouds. "There you guys are I've been looking for twenty minutes. We've got an emergency."

"What is it?"

"Dagur, I spotted his ships docking off the cost of breakneck bog. From what I saw they were loading something special. I say we pay him a visit destroy his ships and take it."

Hiccup thought for a moment about what to do.

_If Dagur wants it then it can't be good. Breakneck Bog isn't to far and we have gotten to know the island thanks to our training._

"Alright you guys open to stopping whatever he's up to?"

"We never turn down mayhem right sis?"

"Especially if it's flaming mayhem."

The sun had just begun to set as they flew over the island. Astrid guided them to a cliff overlooking their ships and camp. There were maybe three dozen berserkers moving crates or sharpening weapons.

"Alright I saw Dagur fawning over that big crate down there. So, what do you think?"

Hiccup took out his scope and got a better look. There were a couple berserkers guarding but no other security.

"Alright Snoutlout you and the twins cause a distraction. Fishlegs you keep lookout while Astrid and I sneak up and find out what's inside that crate."

Moments later the three of them mounted their dragons and dove over the edge filling the area with fire and flammable gas wreaking havoc. On cue Dagur came out of a tent saw the riders and ordered his men to attack. Using this chance Hiccup and Astrid made their way to the crate and blasted it open showing a large green cage.

"What kind of cage is this?" Hiccup was just about to touch it when an axe bounced off the cage just above his hand. Then turned just as a very upset Dagur strode forth another axe already raised.

"It's mine! Now surrender and let me kill you."

They readied to fight as more berserks stopped chasing the dragons to back him up.

Dagur in his usual arrogance walked toward them grinning. "Now brother I know this is the part where you think you'll order your dragons to fight but I've made preparations."

He was about to strike when Snoutlout and the twins came charging down leveling the area with gas. The entire are quickly filled with the dense flammable gas before Hiccup saw the blazing Hookfang glide through igniting it. Sadly much like last time everyone was caught in the blast. The resulting explosion ignited every tent and blew the twins who were still in the gas off their dragons. Toothless was sent backward into the open cage which slammed shut and Hiccup was sent into a nearby tree. He quickly shook it off and tried to find his friends. Through the haze he saw Fishlegs hovering just beyond the gas.

"Guys sound off." He heard the twins moaning about pain and rushed as best he could to help. There was a roar and a whoosh just in front of him and as he looked up, he saw Tuff being carried in Stormfly's talons.

_Wait where's Ruff?_

"Get your hands off me you stinking maniac!"

His head whipped to the sound finding Ruff being held by Dagur with a knife to her throat. "Well brother looks like I've got a good bargaining chip. Now be a good little fool and tell your riders to stand down or I do something really crazy."

Ruff tried to fight back by biting his hand, but he only laughed and pressed his knife deeper. Hiccup balled his fists in rage before waving the riders away.

"Aright Dagur you win, let her go and you get me."

"No I think I'll keep you both until I'm sure I'm safe." He threw Ruff to his men before punching Hiccup hard in the face causing him to black out.

When he woke up, he saw he was in some kind of brig. He guessed he'd been taken onto their ship.

"Bout time you woke up"

He turned and saw that sitting just a few feet away was Ruffnut.

"Hope you got a plan for us getting out of here."


	5. Chapter 5

Hiccup paced back and forth in his cell trying his best to come up with some sort of plan.

_Dagur is crazy but I can usually use that to my advantage. But with Toothless somewhere else on the ship that limits my options. I have no idea where the other riders are or even if they flew back to warn my father. If they did, he's probably on the warpath._

As he paced Ruff chucked a rock against the wall as she thought about her situation.

_Can't believe I'm in this mess. Trapped on a boat with Hiccup. Well at least this time we have our clothes on. Still can't believe I did that, or that he called me beautiful._

For most of her life she'd been called many things including crazy and blunt but beautiful or Girley hadn't been one of them. And although she'd tried to forget it, she still liked it.

She stood up after a few boring minutes of watching him pace and hearing his damn metal leg creak on the wood and looked at the cell door. "I think we can get out here."

"Ruff that's an iron cell door. We'd either need the key or one of or dragons to get through."

"Not really you see my uncle once taught me and Tuff how to pick locks. If I can get a thin piece of metal, then I can probably get us out."

"Really?"

She double checked the lock giving it a rattle. "Maybe."

For a moment he got hopeful before remembering that any supplies he had was on Toothless.

"I don't suppose you have something?" he asked hoping for anything.

Before she could answer the door to the brig slammed opened and two berserkers walked in and opened the cell.

"Dagger wants you in his cabin."

As Hiccup was marched out of the cell Ruff got an idea. But for the first time in a while she sat down to think this through instead of simply acting on it.

As Hiccup was marched through the halls and onto the deck, he saw that he was traveling in Dagur's flagship surrounded by his fleet and were in the middle of the open ocean with no islands in sight. They'd left from breakneck bog but he had no idea how long he'd been out or even which direction they'd traveled.

Even before he got to the door, he heard an axe slamming against wood. The berserks that brought him looked nervous and pushed him into the door.

"Well in you go."

He ignored them and opened the door just in time to see a straw dummy with his crudely drawn face be separated from it's shoulders by Dagur's axe.

"Ah there you are brother I was getting bored waiting."

"I see you found a way to keep yourself occupied." He stepping over the straw head.

"Yes, well it's just not the same you know. Straw Hiccup doesn't scream or fight back. Or destroy my ships and leave me stranded on a floating piece of wood for a full day!"

In his rage he hacked up more limbs from the dummy before slamming his axe into the wall.

"But enough about straw Hiccup. I think it's time we talk about you."

"Me?"

He walked over and gripped his shoulder squeezing it hard. "Yes you, your little gang of dragon riders have been a major, no only thorn in my side for some time. Always with your little plans and annoying dragons." He forced Hiccup out of his room and onto the deck where he pointed to a nearby ship were Toothless was stuck in his green cage. "So, I went out and stole some dragon proof cages."

"No!"

"Oh yes brother. And without your nightfury and little friends your nothing more then a scrawny plan maker."

Hiccup shook off his hand. "Alright Dagur what do you want? You wouldn't drag me up here and show me this just to piss me off."

"Your right I wouldn't. You see even though I hate you and would very much like to wring your tiny little neck. I'm smart enough to learn from my failures."

He turned to the nearest berserker grabbing him by his beard. "Namely the mistake of relying on muscles over brain." He said throwing him over the edge and into the waters below.

"And that's were you come in." he easily picked hiccup up and shook him. "You have no muscles and are all brain! So, I thought why kill Hiccup when I can have him work for me. Just think with my fleet and your plans I and by association you can rule the archipelago."

"And why in Thor's name would I work for you?"

Dagur smiled and waved to his men on the ship who grabbed their bows and aimed them at Toothless. "So, I don't kill and wear your dragon as a hat."

He looked at as Toothless roared and fired a blast. It scared some of them, but they still aimed their bows.

_Relax Hiccup, Dagur is always overconfident. He may have the advantage now, but you can find a way out of this._

"Alright Dagur I'll work for you, but only if you don't harm Toothless or Ruffnut."

"Hiccup don't you trust me?"

"Would you?"

He broke out into a fight of manically laughter for nearly five minutes before putting Hiccup in a headlock. "That's what I like about you Hiccup."

After nearly chocking him out he led him back to the brig. The moment he opened the door they saw Ruff pulling a berserker into the bars.

"I said I wanted mutton, not fish!"

When she saw Hiccup and Dagur she released him, and he staggered back. "Oh, so he didn't kill you that's good."

He threw Hiccup back into the cell. "Yes, Hiccup did the smart thing and accepted my offer so I won't kill you or his precious dragon. However, if you attack my guards again I'll have to take something important from you."

With his threat lingering in the air he and his men left them alone. As soon as they were Hiccup punched the wall in anger only to instantly regret it. "So, I take you don't have a plan?"

"Play along until we can get to Toothless and get him out of his cage."

"Well it probably works better now that I have this." She pulled a thin piece of metal from out of her hair.

"How did you get that?"

"When they brought our food for the night, I saw he had a piece of metal in his beard, so I stole it. I say we wait till night then sneak out of here and rescue your dragon."

In his excitement he rushed forward and hugged her. "Ruff I could kiss you!"

Her face went red and she pushed him off. "Yeah Yeah now shut up and eat. We'll need our energy."

For the next few hours they waited as the light began to die and the noise on the deck stopped. Ruff extend her hand through the cell and slowly picked the lock until she heard the click and it swung open. "Alright let's go, you know where there keeping toothless?"

"Yeah he's on the other ship."

She stopped in her tracks just as they got to the deck. "You mean he's not even on this ship?!"

"Yeah I guess Dagur was smart enough to separate us."

She growled in annoyance as she followed Hiccup to the bow of the ship where he pointed out Toothless "There he is, now we just have to figure out how to get over there."

A moment later he heard Ruff run to the other side of the ship before running back toward him. He quickly realized what she was planning but was to late to stop her as she grabbed him and jumped over the edge and into the water below. They rushed out of the water and climbed up the anchor and onto the deck. After coughing up some water Hiccup rushed over to Toothless.

"Ruff can you pick the lock?"

She took one look and sighed. "No, this one looks to fancy. We'll need the key."

"Alight so we'll find the captain he's sure to have the key."

"Toothless I know this sounds bad, but I need you to cause a distraction as best you can. Roar shoot out a plasma blast I don't care. Just keep them focused on you."

He nodded and began roaring as loud as he could. Hiccup and Ruff rushed to the doors and hid behind a barrel just as they sprung open and berserkers rushed out. Some said things about simply killing the dragon while others stopped them saying Dagur would kill them.

The ran down into the decks and found the captain asleep holding the keys in his cabin. Slowey and carefully they replaced it with a bottle of mead and were halfway out when it came soaring past them and into, he wall. "You there freeze!"

The ran out and tried to close the door but he grabbed Ruff by her braids just as Hiccup closed the door.

"Ow!"

Her hair was stuck, and he kept pulling. Ruff wanting to be free reached into her boot pulling out her emergency dagger and sliced off her braids before rushing out onto the deck throwing Hiccup the keys and freeing Toothless.

As soon as he was free, he whipped the berserkers with his tail and ran about the ship while Hiccup and Ruff did their best to fight. Of course, by now the fleet had woken up and Hiccup saw a very angry and smiling Dagur about to swing over.

"Time to go!"

They hoped on Toothless and into the night sky. Countless arrows soared passed them a while one lucky one hit Toothless in his leg. Hiccup reached down and saw it was just an ordinary arrow, bad but it could have been worse. With their speed they were a mile away in less than a few minutes.

As their exactment wore down Hiccup thought allowed. "Alright so we have no idea where we are with an entire fleet after us. Toothless will need to land and rest for a while."

"Yeah but at least we're not trapped in a cell anymore."

He looked back and was taken back. For the first time since their night together he thought she was beautiful.

"What?" she asked after a minute of him staring at her.

"It's just… you look good with short hair."

She reached up and touched her cut hair before blushing. "Thanks."

He looked back and tried to slow his hear rate. "Anyway, we should probably try and find a island to land after a while. For all we know we could be in unknown waters, so we'll need to get some supplies before heading home."


	6. Chapter 6

It had been nearly an hour of relentless flying since escaping Dagur's ship and Hiccup could tell that Toothless was reaching his limit. The injury he sustained wasn't bad, but it was starting to become a hindrance.

"Ruff you see any islands nearby?"

She scanned the horizon seeing a faint mountain peak just off the horizon. "Yeah something's big over there."

He pulled the saddle to the right getting Toothless to move. As they got closer to the island his flying started to slow down as he jerkily crashed into the sandy beach. Before they crashed Hiccup saw the island had two massive mountain formations and much of the island was covered in dense jungle.

"He's tired but otherwise fine." she asked shaking the sand from her boots.

"Yeah just need to treat his injury and let him rest."

He reached into his saddle intending to grab his supplies but to his shock found that they were completely empty.

"And of course, Dagur robbed me. What else could go wrong today?"

As if tempted by fate itself multiple cries and roars echoed across the island. After hearing this Hiccup grew nervous as they weren't in any condition to fight whatever that was. Ruff however was excited.

"Whatever that was sounds angry, or hungry, maybe both. Let's go check it out."

"Ruff we have no weapons and Toothless can't fly. The best thing to do is to find some cave and rest and then if necessary, explore in the morning."

"Fine but only if you agree that I'm captain of the expedition."

"Sure, you're the captain now help me with him."

They walked beside Toothless as the ventured into the jungle. The deeper they went the more they saw signs that something carnivores was living here.

"Look over there." Ruff said finding a cave coming out of some rocks.

Once inside Hiccup saw signs that someone had been living there. Across the floor was journals and random weapons. Near the far end they saw that there was another section of the cave.

"Someone must have crashed here and been forced to live here." While he quickly gathered some firewood for a fire, she went through whatever weapons were there.

Of course, most of them were rusted out or badly worn down.

"Rusted piece of junk." But after a few minutes she found something she liked. "Now this I can work with." It was an axe that seemed to still be in working order.

As she went about giving her new axe a few good swings Hiccup managed to savage some bandages from a half-destroyed chest. After quickly bandaging Toothless wound he sat down next to the fire. Having nothing else to do he decided to watch as Ruff swung her axe. Or to be more precise he simply watched her move.

In all the years he'd known her he'd never even remotely seen her as a girl, in fact until she and her bother hit puberty, he'd never been able to tell one from the other. But as he watched her, he could see that she was indeed a girl. Her arms had a good amount of muscle from her constant training and as he watched her remembered how soft it had been.

_She's pretty cute in her own way. And if our parents have their way we'll be married in a few years._

He thought about what he was going to do to find a way out of this.

Ruff quickly grew bored with swinging and sat down on the cave floor across from him.

_Well here we are again. Me, him his dragon and a fire. Well at least it's not me and Snoutlout. Actually, not that I think about its Hiccup's not all that bad, sure he's annoying but…_

She sat there racking her brain trying to think of what she didn't hate about him when they accidently locked eyes.

And in that moment her mind recalled their first time together. How gentle he'd contrasted with her rough style. How he'd called her beautiful and how they'd held each other afterward.

"Arrrhhh!" she screamed her mind unable to focus on anything else. She shot to her feet and walked away from the fire and walked away from the fire.

"Ruff where are you going?"

"Exploring don't follow me!" her voice made it quite clear to him that she wasn't kidding and so after she turned the cave wall and he could no longer hear her footprints he turned to his half-asleep partner.

"I swear bud no matter how hard I try I still can't figure her out."

The tired dragon simply rolled on his side to get some sleep. "Yeah good talking with you too."

Hiccup stood up and walked to the cave entrance while reading about the island via the journals. From what he read the jungle had couple herds of boars as well as decent fish. Reading further into the journal he read something about something called little terrors as well as something called Big thrasher. There were a couple of illustrations, but they were mostly of foot sizes and red eyes along with a massive tooth filled jaw.

"I don't even want to know what that is."

After scavenging what he could from what was left for a while he looked at the dying fire and wondered where Ruff was.

"She really should have been back an hour ago."

_Knowing her she's either in trouble or about to be. And on an unknown island that's not a good thing._

So, he followed her path as best he could through the cave. Eventually the cave started getting warmer and warmer and the air became moist. Even the cave walls seemed to be getting damp the further he went.

A few minutes later he found the source of all the heat as there were multiple pools of boiling water inside the massive circular room. All the steam from the pools was rising to a small opening at the top. Most of the pools were covered in a thin layer of steam so visibility wasn't the best.

"Can't believe that this cave has a natural hot spring."

As he took a step forward, he nearly tripped over something. Looking down he saw that what he'd tripped over was a pair of crumbled pants, and just beyond that was a blue top and tan vest.

"Put those down!"

On instinct he turned to face the source of the screams and saw much to his embarrassment a half-submerged Ruffnut in a nearby pool. His gaze lingered just long enough to see before he whipped his head back.

"Sorry! I was just getting worried when you didn't come back. I. I'll just go now."

"Wait." She said stopping him in his tracks.

As much as she wanted to enjoy a nice warm bath by herself. Something she almost never did unless she was being forced there were some things, she wanted to talk to him about. And she believed that having an awkward conversation in an embarrassing situation should event things out.

"Look you're already here and it's not like we haven't seen each other naked before so just hop in the pool next to me."

"But… I… we…"

He sighed a she couldn't believe the situation he was in and quickly undressed realizing that she was somewhat right and he could use a hot bath after what they've been through.

The waters were unbelievably good and he soon felt his troubles vanishing. The two of them sat there for the longest time as each wanted to start the conversation but neither seemed willing. Until Ruff finally broke silence with an out of the blue question.

"Do you think I'm attractive?"

Hiccup fell back into the water at the random question. "What?"

"You know am I Girley?"

Although he was about confused by her sudden question, he knew he had to answer this honestly.

"Ruff I'd be lying if I were to call you Girley. In fact, you'd probably steal my leg and hit me with it."

She looked away. "Ohh." She said softly but Hiccup continued. "However, having said that I can assure you that I most defiantly find you attractive."

"Oh… well you're pretty good looking yourself. Especially in the face."

She gave a slight chuckle before moving over to his pool and sitting next to him.

"Ruff!"

"Oh, relax there's plenty of steam."

They sat there for a few minutes as their unease of the situation lessened.

"So the two of us and marriage huh?" he stated.

"Yeah my dad hasn't stopped talking about it. He always said if me and Tuff managed to not get carried off by dragons than getting married would be a chinch. And now that your father wants us to marry the only way he'll refuse if you fight him. And I mean with bludgeons not words."

"Yeah and my dad's not going to be any easier. I can just hear the screaming if I even remotely try to say no. There are three things he's always wanted me to do. Kill a dragon, find a girl and become a man. I technically did the first when we defeated the red death and now that I have a good chance of getting the other two he's not going to allow me to refuse. There's a better chance of me convincing Gobber to take a bath every day."

"Wait what about you and Astrid? Aren't you two a thing or something?"

Sure, she'd never seen the two acting like that but like everyone else she assumed.

"Astrid and I are friends. I trust her with my life and yes, I think I felt something for her a while ago she hasn't shown any interest other then that one time she kissed me. Honestly until recently I've considered having a wife or girlfriend to be a dream."

Seconds later he felt two hands pull his head down as his lips met hers.

"Why?" was all he could ask after she pulled away.

She smiled as she got out of the water and grabbed her clothes. "Maybe because I felt like it. Or maybe there's more to it and I just don't feel like telling. Enjoy your bath Hiccup."

He watched as she disappeared back up the caved and leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"I still can't understand her."


	7. Chapter 7

A couple days had passed since arriving on the island and Toothless was nearly back up to full strength. While he had been running around and preparing his wings for flight Hiccup and Ruff had been exploring the island together.

Ever since their little discussion in the hot spring things had been different between them. Mainly that Ruff had in a sense mellowed and was actively trying to spend time with him as they explored. And as for Hiccup he'd come to realize that Ruff was rather like an unknown dragon. Mysterious kind of dangerous but still interesting.

"Come on Hiccup we're almost to the top of the ridge." This morning after they had breakfast, she'd dragged him out of the cave and told him that they were going exploring. At first, he'd been nervous but after she'd told him that she'd been sneaking out while he slept to do some solo exploring and hadn't come across anything dangerous, he calmed down somewhat.

Now he found himself dragging his body over the edge of one of the closest mountains. He'd struggled to clime it with only one good leg but every time he'd suggested quitting, she'd told him. "IF you quit then I'm flying Toothless home." That one statement had pushed Hiccup to keep moving forward.

His hands gripped a large rock as he pulled himself up and onto the flat surface. Ruff stood a few feet away grinning. "About time you got here. I've been waiting for nearly ten minutes."

"Yeah alright now why did you want me to climb this mountain."

She pointed east where just out of the corner of his eye he could see the faintest impression of land.

"Another island?"

"Probably, no idea which one it is though."

_Without a proper map I can only hazard a guess. We were taken at Breakneck Bog and into the open sea and that means we would have had to travel south for at least half a day or so._

He picked up a nearby stick and began plotting a crude course of the ship.

"Now from the grand map my father showed me once I say were nearly at the edge of the known map which means that the island you found must be Dredge island."

"Wait you mean the place with all the shipwrecks?"

"Most likely which means that we're one maybe two days from home. Once we get some food for the journey we can leave"

While he was excited Ruff seemed rather disappointed. "So, we'll be leaving soon?"

When Hiccup saw the look in her eyes, he felt his chest turn. He was never one for seeing people sad and seeing it on Ruff made it worse. "We'll Berk isn't going anywhere, and it will take time to gather some supplies. Not to mention flying out to make sure that it's Dredge island because if it's not then we're completely lost."

"So, we're staying?!"

"Maybe not for a day or two just to make sure."

She rushed over and hugged him. "Great! Now we can really explore the island!"

He knew that this would be trouble, that no doubt he'd quickly come to regret this but for some reason seeing her smiling face was worth it.

For the rest of the day the two of them explored the island. Traveling through its dense jungle and along the beaches. Filling his bag with what fruit they found and whatever random objects she decided she was keeping. Which by the end of their journey and return to the cave amounted to a shiny green scale, three bundles of slightly poisonous berries. He'd tried numerous times to talk her out of this, but she said that they tingled and only numbed her arms. And a half-broken skull of some small animal.

As night fell and they warmed themselves next to the fire the sounds of the jungle coming alive filled the air. They'd quickly realized that most of the things on the island came out at night and as such they stayed int the cave. If something was curious or brave enough to get close a roar from Toothless or a well-placed plasma blast was enough to send it away. They'd let to meet the beast from the journal, and they weren't eager to.

With their energy spent the two of them laid next to one another preparing for bed. At firs the two of them and slept across from one another but after their first night they'd started sleeping together. Neither had said anything or complained as each one suspected that the other secretly enjoyed it, which of course they did.

Hiccup had just started to drift off when he felt the familiar sensation of Ruff's hands wrap around his stomach as she pulled himself closer mumbling in her sleep about her pillow escaping. He'd realized after their first night like this that Ruff had a bad habit of cuddling something in her sleep. Even when they slept apart, she'd somehow end next to him come morning. If she woke up before him, she'd quickly get up and get about the day, but if he was unlucky enough to wake up before her he either had to wait for her to wake up or try and fail to detach herself from him. Something he'd tried only once before she screamed about her sheep escaping and nearly crushed him.

But even though it was an awkward situation for him he still couldn't bring himself to completely hate it. Having someone this close to him every night, feeling the warmth of her body and the slight murmurs next to his ear as she slept had come to greatly relax him and his active mind.

So, after wishing her and Toothless a good night he led his mind die down as sleep overtook him.

And for the first few hours it worked, until he was woken up by a combination of immense pressure on his stomach and slight whimpers.

Gently he pried his arms free and turned over to see Ruff's face distorted into an expression of agony. Every few minutes she would repeat the same two words.

"Cold…Dark."

Hiccup was confused by her words.

_Cold and Dark what could those…_

Then it hit him like an angry yak.

_When she nearly drowned. Sure, it was only for a couple minutes before I pulled her out, but she quite nearly died down there. Has she been having these night terrors ever since?_

Hiccup did the only thing he could think of and pulled her into a hug. Her body stiffened for a moment and he thought for sure she would lash out at him but instead she slowly opened her eyes saw what was happening and pulled him deeper into the hug.

They stayed like that for a few long silent minutes before she eventually spoke.

"Thanks."

"No problem, But Ruff just how long have you?"

She quickly cut him off. "Not long, maybe once ever few days. I usually just deal with them myself." Of course, she left out how she'd spend at least ten minutes crying or shaking the first few times it happened.

"Ruff I know you don't need protecting as your one of the toughest people I know. But and I'm serious when I say this. If you ever need me, I'm here."

She looked into his light green eyes and felt herself relax. After a moment he saw her lean up and he didn't hesitate to meet her half way. Their kiss was slow and passionate, not fully powered by romance but slowly warming up to it.

It was Hiccup who made the next move slowly pulling her closer. She broke off and looked at him her expression now one of excitement.

"Well look at you Hiccup taking the lead."

"Sorry did I misread or go to far." He started taking his hands away, but she put them back.

"I think we're doing fine. But as much as I hate to ask this, do you want this? Do you want me?" the last part was asked more softly and filled with uncertainties.

_Do I want this? We could separate right now and slowly and awkwardly try to go back to being friends. Try to come up with some way to tear apart the marriage arrangement and live our lives as best we could._

He quickly kissed her again. "My mind hasn't fully decided but I'm pretty sure my heart already has an answer. Maybe this will be awkward and new and quite possibly dangerous but I'm eager to see where it leads.

"I couldn't have put it better myself."

They made out for a few more minutes before drifting off to sleep In each other's arms.


	8. Chapter 8

With their supplies gathered up they mounted Toothless and flew off into the sky saying goodbye to the island where they'd been staying for the last few days. Ruff was a bit disappointed that they hadn't run into whatever their former resident had wrote about. Hiccup on the other hand was simply glad they were heading home. "Alright Bed on to the next island we need to confirm that it's Dredge island."

With an excited roar at being flying again he took off at full speed making Ruff hold on for dear life to Hiccup.

As they drew closer to the island Hiccup took notice of the whirlpools swirling around the island as well as the old destroyed Viking boats that littered the surrounding rocks and coastline.

"Yeah that's for sure Dredge island, there's one of Berk's oldest ships the Bronze gronkles. Knowing dad, he'd probably want us to see if there's anything still left that could be used to help Berk."

Ruff hearing this perked up. "So, we're going down?"

"Only to check the cargo hold. From here we can get to Berk within a couple hours."

"Then I guess we'll have to enjoy our private time while we can." She hugged him tighter making him blush.

_Still getting used to this. But it's nice to have a girlfriend, or I guess she's really my fiancée but for now we'll stick with girlfriend. I can just imagine the look on our parents faces when we tell them the news._

As soon as they landed Ruff took off exploring the ancient ship while Hiccup traveled into the main cabin. Nearly all the items inside had been damaged or worn down to the point of non-repair. But in the far corner pinned to the wall was a half-destroyed map with a vague outline of the surrounding area. There were a few islands listed that Hiccup had never heard off but more importantly there was a drawn line that showed the direction of Berk.

"Alright I got what I need. Now to go make sure that Ruff hasn't found anything dangerous."

Walking back to the deck he saw Ruff trying to stuff into Toothless's saddle. "Come on you stupid thing."

"Ruff what's with the book?"

"I found it next to a Skelton. It has some pretty good pictures."

He took it and quickly flipped through the pages. Inside was some illustrations of the islands as well as what horrific things the now dead explorer found on them."

_Well I should at least be happy that she's taken an interest in a book. Even if it's just about the numerous terrible things that can kill you._

"Anything else down there?"

"Nope just a bunch of dead people. Think we can come back here later?"

"Maybe but right now let's just get home. I could really go for some nice Berk cooking."

They got back on Toothless and headed off toward Berk. As they flew Ruff got an idea and for once it was actually pretty good one. However, as she thought it through, she quickly realized she'd need some help.

Within the hour they saw the beginnings of Berks landscape coming into view and as they got closer, they saw that Berk had it's ships out patrolling the waters. Once they saw Toothless, they began cheering which made Hiccup a bit nervous.

The moment they touched down in the center of the village they were swarmed with people asking if they were okay and what happened. Of course, shortly after they were getting used to the questions a very loud very recognizable voice overpowered everyone else's.

"**Hiccup!**" turning to the voice he saw his father very angry landing on his equally loud dragon Thornado. Hiccup prepared his ears for the screaming but as his father got closer the first thing, he did was pick him up and all but squeeze him to death. "It's about time you got back. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Sorry dad we tried to get back sooner but things kind of happened."

As he sat him down Ruff checked to see if he was okay. Something Stoick took notice of and smiled. "I take it you being away wasn't all bad."

He didn't say anything being to embarrassed, Ruff however took his hand in her own which was all Stoick needed. He began moving them away from the crowd and up the hill to the chief's home for a bit of privacy

"Well you're back now and that's all that matters. You two go inside and get some food and rest. When the other riders came back and told us that Dagur had captured you we put Berk on lockdown as we readied for his armada. They should be back from their scouting mission and when they do we're heading out to crush that fool once and for all."

"Have there been any attacks?" Hiccup asked as he walked through his door and fully relaxing in one of the massive chairs. Ruff decided to join him laying down atop of him and propping her feet on the rest.

"A few scouts but nothing we couldn't handle. Now you two get some rest I still have a war party to gather."

Before he left, he took on last look at the two of them and smiled. "At least I see the two of you of gotten closer."

Ruff smiled and gave him a punch in the arm. "Yeah well he's not so bad once you get used to him."

"Yes, well while you two are relaxing just keep in mind that his bed Is upstairs."

Their faces turned red as they understood his words. "Dad wait we." But he was already halfway down the stairs laughing at the situation.

Sighing at the situation Hiccup leaned back in the chair. "Well that couldn't have been more embarrassing."

Ruff could only laugh. "Are you kidding I think that went pretty well."

She leaned up and kissed him before jumping off. "Now how about the two of us take a nap in an actual bed before all the crazy fun stuff happens."

Being tired of sleeping stones and wanting to feel the warmth of his blanket and comfort of bed he smiled and followed her up the stairs all but collapsing the moment he hit the bed. She of course jumped in beside him.

"Oh yeah this is so much better." The warmth of the bed quickly caused both to fall into a deep and peaceful slumber. They weren't sure just how long they were asleep, but they did know that the sounds of catapults and roaring dragons barely woke them up. After all they pent spent most of their childhood trying to sleep through dragon attacks.

It was Toothless that successfully managed to wake them up throwing the blanket off and dragging Hiccup out of bed by his metal leg.

"Alight I'm up what's the problem?" Toothless dragged him over to the window where he saw that in the waters just off shore were a legion of ships. And as he looked up, he saw his riders heading straight for them.

"Ruff wake up it's time."

Not waking up the first time he decided to try another method and simply shoved her out of the bed. She angerly got up and stared at him. "What the hell?"

He pointed out the window where she saw the carnage. "Oh"

"Now come on we have a battle to win."

They ran outside meeting up with the others. Ruff quickly joined her brother on their shared dragon as they shot into the sky.

"Man it's glad to see you guys again." Said Fishlegs as they flew.

"Yeah but right now we kind of need a plan. Dagur is attacking and so far, he's doing a pretty good job of taking out our ships. We've spent to many years fighting dragons instead of other Vikings, so our ships aren't built like theirs." As always Astrid being the more militaristic person quickly sized up the situation.

"Well I saw while the war party fights and holds off his ships we go for the head. If we can capture and defeat him then this entire invasion will quickly die."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Quickly gaining altitude the dove down from the skies heading straight for Dagur's flagship where he was loading a catapult aimed straight at them.

Using their speed, they were able to avoid most of the shots and make their way to the sides of their ships and setting them ablaze. Quicker then they thought the area was engulfed in steam and fire as the water heated up from the burning ships. Dagur seeing this became enraged and spotting Hiccup coming in rushed over the side and landed on top of him.

"Nice to see you again brother. Now let's do something about the you are being alive problem."

"You first." Hiccup grabbed Dagur by his shirt as he pulled at his foot clamps making Toothless climb high into sky. He saw his riders following him and in a moment of craziness he pushed off Toothless sending the two of them into a free fall. Being heavier Dagur fell faster and grabbed on to Hiccups metal leg but Hiccup simply disconnected it and let him fall.

Astrid dove after him and caught him with Stormfly's claws dropping him on the beach in front of Stoick while Hookfang caught Toothless.

Hiccup however fell for quite some time before he saw a massive green dragon swoop under him and two hands catching his own. Looking up he saw he'd been saved by the twins.

"Wow Hiccup that was downright reckless and stupid. Kind of makes us jealous."

"Yeah well remined me never to do anything like that again."

Flying down to a rapidly dying battle they saw that Dagur was now trapped under Gobber who gave him a well-placed whack with his good hand when he tried to push him off.

"Oh, knock it off you little whelp."

"I take it the battle's over?"

Stoick looked at the panicked berserkers and the fleeing ships. "I'd say just about. We'll deal with the crazy ones you lot burn their ships."

By the end of the day the bay was filled with the remains of the ships that hadn't fled and the Berk jail was nearly full of a very angry Dagur screaming once again about vengeance. While Hiccup and Ruff were on the edge of the island enjoying a slightly burnet pie that Ruff had made just a few hours ago.

She took a bite and licked her fingers clean. "Not to bad for the first pie I ever made."

"I still can't believe that you can cook."

"My mom tried to teach me years ago, but I was never interested. But I figured learning to now wouldn't be too bad."

"Well I'm not complaining about the pie." He turned to face her. "Or even that I'll be spending the rest of my life with who made it." She smiled and leaned back enjoying the moment. "Yeah but that's years away, I say for the time being we just take things slow."

"That coming from a girl who let a Skrill loose instead of waiting to see what my father wanted to do with it."

"Hey destruction is easy, romance is hard."

He laid back next to her. "Yeah but I think it's worth it."


End file.
